My 1st build, need help!

[metallicaband]

Hello everyone,

Would appreciate it if you guys could help me with my first build, sticky thread's Qs answers:


1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc

- Web browsing/youtubing
- Recording videos (probably with an HD PVR) and editing/encoding/compressing 'em
- Watching HD videos.
- Recording music
- I'm a console gamer myself, but would like the option of the possibilty to play FFXIV smoothly if it turned out much better on PC than PS3

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?

800-1050 US $ excluding shipping & tax, I'd rather get the best bang for my buck performance instead of paying more for little performance gain.


3) Where do you live?

I live in Bahrain, but I'll be ordering light weight items from amazon.com (they'll ship to a US address which I have in NY through a courier company and they'll forward the stuff to me, gotta pay 'em per pound) and will purchase heavy items such as PSU and case locally, will look in the forum's FS section as well since I had success dealing with people here before.

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.

- Motherboard
- CPU
- GPU
- RAM
- HDD
- Optical drive
- Sound card (unless what the motherboard offers is good enough).
- PSU
- Case
- Cooling fans/heatsinks
- OS


5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.

Just gonna use the monitor which I didn't buy too long ago and seems good enough for browsing the net (it's an HP 22" 1680x1050 LCD).

6) Will you be overclocking?

- I've never overclocked before but I'm interested to do so, nothing major though.

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?

1- HP 22" 1680x1050 LCD
2- Pioneer Kuro 5020fd (50" 1080p plasma), this is the hdtv that's connected to my console, I'm assuming it's alright to watch videos from the PC and maybe even game on it a bit

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?

ASAP, my current PC is freaking ancient and it's graphic card seems to have failed, time to move on from the damn P4 2.4 Ghz !

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.

I'm still new to the whole building PCs scene, but I doubt that I'd be interested in having dual GPUs since I'm not much of a PC gamer, it would be nice to have something that's future proof though, like included USB 3.0 ports

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?

- I don't at the moment, I'm not even surer whether I should get windows XP Pro which I'm familiar with or get windows 7, no idea whether I should get 32bit or 64bit either



Here are some Items that I've seen on Amazon and seem interesting at the moment:

WD caviar blue 640GB $57.95
ADATA Gaming Series 4 GB (2 x 2 GB) DDR3-1600 (PC3 12800) $99.41
ASUS M4A87TD/USB3 - AM3 Motherboard $99.99
Sapphire Radeon HD 5670 PCI-Express GPU $79.99
AMD Athlon II X4 640 Propus 3.0 GHz $99.99

 

[Dangman]

Get Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit. XP Support is gonna die out relatively soon. It's also time to get on with your life and go for Win 7.

$136 - AMD Phenom II X4 955 CPU
$90 - Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AMD 880G HDMI mATX Motherboard
$85 - Corsair XMS3 TW3X4G1333C9A 2 x 2GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$70 - Zotac ZT-98GES5P-FDL 9800GT 512MB PCI-E Video Card
$58 - Western Digital WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$24 - LG IHAS424-98 DVD Burner
$60 - Cooler Master RC-590-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$90 - Corsair 650TX 650W PSU
------------
Total: $613

 

[metallicaband]

Thanks a lot for the suggestions, but I've been thinking of spending a bit more over my budget and get something more future proof, from what I've read so far i7 seems like a very solid CPU, so thought I'd see how much such setup would cost me:

$200-230 for a Core i7 920+ (used or new)
$85 - Corsair XMS3 TW3X4G1333C9A 2 x 2GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$70 - Zotac ZT-98GES5P-FDL 9800GT 512MB PCI-E Video Card
$112 Intel 40GB SSD
$58 - Western Digital WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$150 Cooler Master CM 690 II Advanced Mid Tower Case (local deal)
$100 Cooler Master eXtreme Power Plus 650W PSU (local deal)
$250 ASUS Sabertooth X58 1366 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard (local deal)
$100 Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit

------------
= around $1155

I'm guessing the i/shipping would cost around $60

Total = $1215

Some of those local prices could be expensive, but I'd like to know if those options are good enough, because specially for PSU and case, I really should get 'em locally since they're heavy parts most of the time and i/shipping would cost a lot (it's around 8$ per 1.1 pound (half KG) depending on the package's actual and volumetric weight to be specific).

Also:

1- Are there any specific i7 CPU batches I should look for or try to avoid?
2- Do you suggest getting the SSD sometime later when the prices are cheaper to cut costs for now or maybe get a better GPU?


Thanks again for the help =)

 

[Dangman]

$100 Cooler Master eXtreme Power Plus 650W PSU (local deal)

You're getting ripped off. That PSU is barely capable of 350W of power. That PSU is worth only $15. No way in hell is that PSU worth $100.

1- Is there any specific i7 CPU batches I should look for or try to avoid?
2- Do you suggest getting the SSD sometime later when the prices are cheaper?

1) Not really.
2) Get the SSD later on.

Also a Core i7 setup is not gonna last you that much longer:
The 2.8Ghz Core i7 930 only provides about a 2 to 5FPS difference over the Core i5 750 as shown in this review:
http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_pages/gaming_the_core_debate,1.html

Additional proof: The $1040 3.3Ghz Core i7 975 Extreme Edition CPU is only 15% to 30% faster than the Core i5 750 with only a specific set of games and video cards:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/cpus-and-games-2010.html

So considering the the i7 975 is faster than the i7 930 and i7 950 and yet only provides 15% to 30% under the most ideal conditions, the Core i7 930/950 is definitely not gonna be that much faster than the i5 750 or i5 760. At least fast enough to justify the higher costs anyway. In addition, there's very little real world difference between triple channel and dual channel RAM in real world apps and games.

So platform wise, you can save around $150 to $200 if you switch to the Core i7 760 route and still get very similar performance in games. Dunno about you but $150 to $200 is too high for minimal gains in gaming. It'll only extend the life of your PC by 2 months at most.

 

[metallicaband]

Thanks for the quick response, I've checked those reviews and they're mostly related to gaming, I'm interested in that but I'm more concerned about how they compare in terms of encoding/compressing large video files, because if the difference ain't that much in that area as well, I'll go down the i5 route for sure.


About PSUs, what about this, ain't worth a dime as well? lol:

Thermaltake Litepower 700 Watt Non-Modular ATX 12V PSU for 90 $?


Because if that's also garbage, I'm gonna have to look really hard for a good PSU locally, and if that didn't work, I'll have no other option but to pay the extra 50-60$ shipping fees to get the one you suggested earlier online.

 

[Dangman]

Thanks for the quick response, I've checked those reviews and they're mostly related to gaming, I'm interested in that but I'm more concerned about how they compare in terms of encoding/compressing large video files, because if the difference ain't that much in that area as well, I'll go down the i5 route for sure.

This should help:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/109?vs=47

About PSUs, what about this, ain't worth a dime as well? lol:

Thermaltake Litepower 700 Watt Non-Modular ATX 12V PSU for 90 $?

Because if that's also garbage, I'm gonna have to look really hard for a good PSU locally, and if that didn't work, I'll have no other option but to pay the extra 50-60$ shipping fees to get the one you suggested earlier online.

That Thermaltake is a crappy PSU. Basically if you want to be 100% sure that the PSU is quality, stick to Corsair or Seasonic.

 

[E4g1e]

Thanks for the quick response, I've checked those reviews and they're mostly related to gaming, I'm interested in that but I'm more concerned about how they compare in terms of encoding/compressing large video files, because if the difference ain't that much in that area as well, I'll go down the i5 route for sure.


About PSUs, what about this, ain't worth a dime as well? lol:

Thermaltake Litepower 700 Watt Non-Modular ATX 12V PSU for 90 $?


Because if that's also garbage, I'm gonna have to look really hard for a good PSU locally, and if that didn't work, I'll have no other option but to pay the extra 50-60$ shipping fees to get the one you suggested earlier online.

If I were in your situation, I would not buy anything locally over there at all. This is because the value of their currency is piss-poor even compared to our own US Dollar. So, over there, they probably won't even carry any of the stuff that we recommend, and that they will continue to bring in relatively shitty stuff at hugely inflated prices. (Meaning that everything sold over there costs at least twice as much as what those same items cost here in the US.)

 

[metallicaband]

Yeah some local deals are total rip offs here, I do see some decent deals every once in a while though, I am forced to at least get the case locally since they weigh a lot.

About the build, I've already bought an i7 930 now, decided that I would overclock it as much as possible with an aftermarket air cooler (aiming to hopefully reach the 4Ghz mark or even more), would like to know a few things:

1- How much more useful are 1600 DDR3 RAM over 1333 RAM for overclocking? are the Corsair dominator series worth it?

2- What's a good motherboard that can handle high end SLI graphics cards and overclocks very well? (price between 180-250 $), is the Sabertooth x58 good enough?

3- What's a good graphic card in the 40$ range that will not be used for gaming, just for watching HD videos and editing 'em, prefer to have an HDMI port. (I'm going to upgrade to high end SLI setup in the beginning of next year when I start gaming on the PC so this is just a temp GPU).

4- What's a good aftermarket cooler for the i7 930? is this Noctua D14 good enough? I can get it locally with the same price.

5- Finally, will a Corsair 850tx PSU be able to handle an overclocked set of i7 930 and pair of high end GPUs? like 480x2 or 470x2


Sorry for bumping a pretty old thread but I thought it would better to just continue the discussion in my original build thread.

 

[Dangman]

1) DDR3 1600 is a bit more useful for overclocking than DDR3 1333 RAM. Dominators are never worth it.
2) The Sabertooth seems ok. Though I recommend these mobos:
$200 - Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Intel X58 ATX Motherboard
$230 - Asus P6X58D-E Intel X58 ATX Motherboard

3) HD 5450, or any HD 4xxx series cards

4) The Noctua D14 is an ok choice. Go with this HSF instead though:
$30 - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus HSF for LGA 1366 and LGA 1156
$40 - Thermalright Cogage TRUE Spirit HSF
$60 - Cooler Master V8 RR-UV8-XBU1-GP HSF

5) The 850TX is not enough for a highly OC'd i7 930 and GTX 480 SLI in the long term. It is enough for a Core i7 930 @ 4.2Ghz and GTX 470 but just barely.

 

[metallicaband]

Thanks a lot for replying again Danny,

1- Any reason to get this DDR3 1600 ram over this model? any other model you'd recommend?

2- Will a 950tx be enough for the setup?

I gotta check if I can get one of those mobos instead of the Sabertooth, I'm not that much in a hurry to get the aftermarket cooler since I'll not overclock right away so I'll make sure to check reviews of the ones you mentioned and then decide which one to get.

 

[Dangman]

1) No reason. Well since you're buying from Amazon, not really any other set I can recommend
2) Yeah, just enough.

 

[E4g1e]

5) The 850TX is not enough for a highly OC'd i7 930 and GTX 480 SLI in the long term. It is enough for a Core i7 930 @ 4.2Ghz and GTX 470 but just barely.

I agree - and the power draw of the Bloomfield CPUs will start to increase greatly beyond about 3.73GHz. This is based on my experience with the two i7-9xx series CPUs I had on hand to test.

 

[metallicaband]

Thanks again for replying both of you, I got the Corsair TR3X6G1600C9 XMS3 DDR3 ram and Windows 7 premium 64 bit OEM, hopefully I'll have all required parts by the end of the month.

 

[metallicaband]

Just an update, I've built the system and installed windows successfully:

Final specs (I'll try to take some pictures if possible in the next few days):

- Core i7 930 CPU
- Sabertooth x58 motherboard
- Noctua NH-D14 cooler
- 6GB Corsair XMS3 1600Mhz DDR3 RAM
- Corsair AX-850 (good local deal)
- HAF X Case (good local deal)
- Zotac GT220 (decent local deal)
- Lite-on DVD Writer
- Caviar black 500 GB WD SATA 3 Gb/s
- Windows 7 Home Premium 64Bit

The GPU will just be used for HTPC until I upgrade to a single high end card at the end of the year(didn't like what I read about SLI setups), probably something like GTX 480, 5970 or newer 580/6970.

I'm really pleased with the performance so far, it's light years ahead of my poor old falling apart P4 PC lol, can't wait to get some HD recording gear (+ extra hard drives) and start putting some load on this machine with encoding/compressing ..etc

Any tips on what I should be doing now after I've installed Windows? I didn't use the motherboard's CD, thought I'd download the latest drivers from ASUS's website, anything else I should do (specially considering I want to overclock soon)? I used CPU Z and here's a screen shot of my memory at the moment:

RAM

I think I should be getting more than these number, some simple tips/guidelines about how to start tweaking my system would great.

 

[Dangman]

Those numbers look right to me.

Just run Prime95 and Furmark at the same time for about 12 hours if you want a general idea of your system's stability.